Bikerafting on the Big River (Enoch Point to Chaffe Creek)

I love it when my daughters invite themselves to do or be on one of my adventures.  The weather forecast was good, the river levels ideal after recent rains, so packrafting was the activity of choice. We headed to the Big River which feeds into Lake Eildon in Victoria,

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On the way from Melbourne we stopped in at the Igloo Roadhouse in Buxton. Home to the "Buxton Burger"  still make a good burger.  The building is getting tired, I like it and it still has some historical charm.

For this trip I wanted to try out my new titanium folding bike. This bike was launched on Kickstarter a few years ago and has just made it into production. Orders are only taken when production allows, so I had to wait a few months and jump in as soon as they announced that they were accepting new orders. I am impressed with the engineering and compactness of the bike. If you are interested check out Helix folding bike .

On the packraft it sits neatly on the bow. Due to its ability to fold, it doesn't protrude like normal bikes and interfere with my paddle . The wheels being 24 inch ride well on the dirt road too.

There were plenty of areas to camp along the Big River. The grassy areas are pleasant and a great place to relax.

My daughter learnt chess a couple of years ago, and has had good tutors. She beats me about 50% of the time, meaning that I too will need some tuition.

There are a few walking trails here and there along the river. We kept an open eye out for snakes and were glad not to see any.

As tempting as it was, I elected not to run this set of rapids at Enoch Falls as it was just me and my daughter.  As she did not have the skills to assist in rescue, I thought it prudent to keep the rapid shooting to grade 2-3 levels.

 

At Enoch point there is a safer place to put our vessels in to start our trip. It's all smiles with a nice a set of rapids to start our trip with.

The Big River is a great river to take novices on it is very pretty and was flowing at a good rate to ensure there was a some fun for both of us.

We paddled the river from Enoch point to Chaffe Creek campground. The river was free of logs and a good distance ie not too long nor short. 

 It took me about an hour to get back to my vehicle on the pushbike.

Even though it's about 7km, the day was hot, I did have to a take a photo every now and again and there was a bit of a hill to tackle.

On the way back we drove through Jamieson and Mansfield as a scenic alternative. There are many high quality cafes in Mansfield. I've been to a few and have no complaints.  Did I lose at chess again ? Can't remember !